Since BlackBerry Jam Americas, I've been been spending some quality time on the Dev Alpha B hardware. Overall I am loving the Hub and Flow and Peek features that shape the BlackBerry 10 experience. Knowing that what I'm playing with is a limited BB10 preview build, I'm by no means in review mode as I use the device. But that doesn't stop my mind from brainstorming ideas on how to further refine the user experience.

One such idea is in regards to Active Frames. Active Frames is the name given to the minimized running apps on BlackBerry 10. Remember, they are not widgets or tiles, but rather are running apps showing an alternate state for their minimized size. Tapping on Active Frame immediately takes you back into the full size app. There's no loading here. It's instant.

As of now on BlackBerry 10, you can have up to eight Active Frames open at the same time. The Active Frames display by recency. The app you've opened last shows at the top left corner, and you work across and down from there. If a ninth app is opened, the oldest open app, which is the app showing in the bottom right corner of the open eight, is removed from the Active Frames view.

In practice, I've found this setup for Active Frames to be intuitive and friendly to use. It makes sense that what you're doing right now always shows at the top. Even though the Active Frames are constantly moving around as you flow between multiple apps, I haven't found myself wasting time hunting for an app that I want at that moment. What I want always seems to be right there.

That all said, I know many CrackBerry readers have expressed some concern over this always-changing layout of the Active Frame screen and the notion of having the ninth app causing the the closure of the eighth oldest open app.

Is this a valid concern? Maybe. Maybe not. Either way, I have a potential solution for it... the ability to "pin" or "hang" (as suggested in the comments below) an Active Frame open.

Follow me here... think about the main app icon tray, where you tap and hold on an icon which puts them into an editing state. Once in the editing state, you can rearrange icons or put them into folders, etc. By extension of this functionality, I think it would be sweet if you could tap and hold on an Active Frame, thus putting it into an edit state. And from there, a "pin" icon could be added to any active frame. Once an app is pinned, it would go to the top of the Active Frames view and always be in that location and open. In other words, it's immune to be closed off the Active Frames list as you continue to open and use more and more apps. So if you always want BBM or your Web Browser or anything to always be open and right there accessible, it can be.

Make sense? Good idea? Confused? It's definitely a confusing thing to read bout, so be sure sure to check out the video above to match the explanation to some visuals. I think it'll all make sense then. Be sure to let me know what you think of this one in the comments!

They need to allow this to behave in two ways. The first way with the most recent on top etc... as per the current design and the second way allowing for total customization and placement/pinning of tiles. Two modes, toggle between as you see fit and everyone is happy. That is, of course, the BlackBerry way. Customization is KING and key.

Absolutely agree... BBM is the most important thing to me on BlackBerry and would always want it at it's fastest access point. Email I can always swipe to as well as other things but that's a great option and as simple as it is it's extremely useful.

The idea itself is not that important because no one keeps 8 active frames at the same time. You may use max 4-5 apps at the same time but thats it and in this case BBM never goes away. As above post already said, you're going to adapt to new OS. BB10 is not like Android where you switch to Home screen and forget about the app you just closed but instead in BB10 it'll just be there waiting for you to close it when you dont need it.

The Idea is not only restricted to BBM. You could pin any App. And I am assuming the HUB will only have messages received and messages sent.. then you would have to peak to compose a brand new message to a brand new contact. Ideally having BBM pinned to the HS would work better that way you have the full app available to do whatever you need to do with in that app.. not just read and reply to msgs..

Makes a lot of sense to me and I hope they implement it. You can rest assured that certain apps will ALWAYS be open...BBM, Browser, Twitter. It would be nice if we didn't have worry about re-opening them.
Good call KM.

I don't think this is an issue. The pinning or "hanging" idea for active frames is basically just the ability to prevent certain open apps from being forced closed when a 9th app is opened. It doesn't imply that you would keep 2,3,4, or x number of apps open indefinitely and then on top of that open up 8 more. So from a memory standpoint it should not require anymore memory than it would to keep 8 apps open all the time.

I would have to say that, regardless of pinning, BB10 should definitely have 2 gigs of ram. If rim wants multitasking to be a big selling point, they need to ensure that the dreaded clock is never seen even when memory hogging apps (especially anfroid apps that require a java vm to be running in the background as well) are loaded. 8 multimedia apps all resident in memory simultaneously may be extroardinarily difficult to do in 1 gig :/

Pinning is a good idea. Its like the ones they choose for us to always be there when you hold down the blackberry button currently. BBM is always there, browser, etc. Instead of them choosing these few like it is right now it should be us choosing which active frams to keep open. The problem lies with how many they should allow. I imagine there are only 8 active frames made available to help stop people opening mass amounts of apps and losing memory. So I think there would have to be a limit of how many Pins you can choose. I'm just wondering what would happen if you pin 8 items then try and pen anoher app. "You must close an app before opening this one so you can still have the pin?" That is for them to figure out

Yeah, i'd assume would definitely need a limit. I'd even keep it just to two or three pinned apps. If you did four, then you'd always be forced to swipe down to the second group of four active frames just to see what's recent. But if you could pin the top two or three, then you'd always see at least one that's recent... a mental reminder that there's more open apps below.

So I can have only 8 apps open at the same time?
Bbm, whatsapp, music, browser, calendar, clock (timer), weather, scoremobile.. And I can't open another one?
Oh RIM, I am starting to get worried... Active Frames is just like minimizing apps (no wonder it "opens instantly kev) on the playbook. I don't think it has the same comfort like widgets. I am also worrying about memory drowning... My 9900's free memoryspace is down to a minimum most times of the day, if they don't put 2gb ram in this baby...
Oh please RIM, don't screw up!

This was my take-away as well. I like the active frames, but there has to be an alternative task switcher too. I'd hate to say it, but for me, it is much more concerning to be able to get back to the same screen that I was on within an app then to have a fancy "active frame".

Maybe I am missing something though, in addition to active frames, are you able to task switch between ALL open apps, or are you stuck using 8 at a time?

Unless they're under powering OS10, it is a step backwards, not only from PlayBook OS, but backwards from OS7 too if they only allow you to take switch between 8 apps.

Yeah you two are mistaken. The active frames show the LAST 8 apps you have used. You can have as many apps open as the device memory allows but only the 8 most recently used apps will have an active frame. The other apps you can just click on the icon and it will maximize where ever you were last in that app

Thanks for that, I wish it were clearer. So there will be no task switcher? To get to an open app that is beyond the 8 housed in the Active Frames, you have to locate the icon again in the home screen?

Any chance you can point me to a supporting article or video. Just to ease my concern...

This worries me too. If the app stays open but just doesn't show in the screen, there's no known way to switch to it except for attempting to launch the app again from the app grid. Perhaps anything past eight can be put into a sleep mode where their state is frozen (and resources freed up), but can still be selected and you can resume from where you were. They could make those "inactive" frames look different - maybe the opacity is half or something.

I wonder how apps that are more like services will run too. Would they show an active frame? Maybe having those (and perhaps the inactive frames idea above) could be right after the 8th active frame, and perhaps just look more like the apps in the app grid. It would sort of be like the recent apps in Android, except they are running but in a service-level or inactive state.

This reminds me of something else I need - to have more than one instance of Word or Excel open at the same time so I can go back and forth when I'm editing docs. I'm thinking primarily on the PlayBook but with BB10 being on both I'm extending this thought to the phone.

Why would you need BBM, facebook, twitter, etc to be pinned when they are already in the hub? I'd be thinking of apps like GPS, web browser, favorite game, etc. (That being said, I don't think they should be restricting the full client app from being pinned.... just saying, don't understand why you'd NEED them).

The idea is good however I think the BlackBerry Hub was initially designed for those uses their inbox frequently so that we don't need to pin those PIM applications, but 9 other applications at the same time.

Exactly! On the PlayBook, the frustrating thing is opening the email app and waiting for things to load. With hub, it's all there... always there.. ready and waiting for you. I don't recall even seeing an email shortcut on our Dev Alpha 2 full preview... don't even need one as hub takes care of it.

with conveince keys I always use my most frequent functions. When we had two conveinience keys it was music on the left and messages on the right. Now we have one and its just messages. Well next we dont have any but we have the hub. I do not even need that key to do my most frequent thing any more. Brilliant

I had a similar idea, where you can press and hold active frames and move them about, as well as pinning them in any position.
I'd put something like...a sports score app in the bottom left corner. That way, when I'm on the lock screen, I could quickly peak through the bottom left corner by swiping up to check scores and whatnot, without having to swipe all the way up. That's just one example.

I wouldn't be surprised if they already have this covered. Remember, they've just been giving us "peeks" at what they are doing...
However, any suggestions we can come up with is good - nobody thinks of everything.
The one thing I liked this about widgets was being able to keep items in certain places. Having post-it reminders on my homescreen, as opposed to having to go look for them and open them, was a great help. The whole idea is to help me remember things. If I have to go look for the app, I'm gonna need a reminder for that! LOL

I love this idea and like a poster above mentioned, this is already implemented in the Windows and Mac desk-/laptop OS's. I think that it would be fairly intuitive for users and they would appreciate the ability to keep their browser or Pandora app open indefinitely while they move and "flow" through other apps during the course of their day.

I think though that apps like BBM shouldn't be included in these active frames given that messages on BBM should technically be accessible via the BlackBerry Hub. I know RIM is including a standalone app for BBM, but I think it takes away from the whole "always running in the background" experience of the Hub. I don't know, it's probably a lot more complicated to implement if done that way, but I think something like BBM should function similarly to the Hub (just as you can send Facebook and Twitter messages from the message app on the PlayBook without actually opening the app).

Nope. I do like getting cheques/checks in the mail though! Getting married soon... maybe a kid too one of these years. I am OPEN for contracting... if not ideas for improving smartphones and tablets, I can also be contracted for workout videos (willing to dance topless) and I'm a world champion finger snapper - great for parties! :)

It does makes a lot of sense cuz the whole purpose of having the desktop is to access your app right away rather than look for the desired one. You may end up spending the same amount of time looking around in desktop area as you would spend running the app from the icons page and wait for it to load. The only advantage it would give is the state that will be saved while its in active state.

I would like to add further.

- Pinning as Kevin suggested so that app never gets closed unless user specifically choose to close it.
- Don't rearrange the desktop whenever a new app is opened and allow arranging of active frames the way it allows arranging of icons in application area.
- If there is not much constraint on hardware or something for allowing more than 8 apps running at the same time except that users have 20 apps running at the same time and it the app users wants on 5 fifth page etc. If that is the case than allow atleast 12 or 16 apps running and allows them to be grouped in one single folder in desktop area the way it allows in application area. Good usage of this feature would be package all the running games in one folder, business apps like contacts, calender in second folder etc..

I want for the consumer two separate sandboxes; one for trusted apps like banking, health record etc, one for normal surfing and normal apps. This split is similar to the personal/work split provided by Balance. A total separation between the two sandboxes to provide cybersecurity for the trusted side, to prevent Trojan horse attack from the unsecured side.

RIM can provide a trusted app store specially for the trusted side.

Consumer gets two virtual phones in one. This will be a HUGE differentiation for users who value cybersecurity.

I want for the consumer two separate sandboxes; one for trusted apps like banking, health record etc, one for normal surfing and normal apps. This split is similar to the personal/work split provided by Balance. A total separation between the two sandboxes to provide cybersecurity for the trusted side, to prevent Trojan horse attack from the unsecured side.

RIM can provide a trusted app store specially for the trusted side.

Consumer gets two virtual phones in one. This will be a HUGE differentiation for users who value cybersecurity.

absolutely wonderful idea Kevin. Im not sure i would even need this but i could see many wanting the option. I guess it would make for a "faster flow" if you already knew where the app you wanted would be on the screen.

Why not instead of 'pinning' have 'favourive apps hub', swipe fron the bottom up and left (hub mirror) and u get list of, say, 5 apps that you marked at ur favourive, and they are always available to quickly reach them where ever you might be in the OS.

I have 2 questions regarding these 'running' apps. I know from having other devices that if you leave an app 'running' the battery drains quicker as opposed to shutting them down. With BB10 having apps continuously running, what have you experienced with the Dev Alpha device, Kevin?

Second question and I know this may be a little to premature to ask, but what about data consumption through carriers outside of wi-fi? Will these 'running' apps cause my overall bill to skyrocket for usage?

I like the idea, MAYBE. I would want to prioritize and then pin as well as unpin easily. I love moving apps around on the screens of my PlayBook.

I am wondering if I am going to end up using an HDMI cable a lot with my BB10 phone as well as my PB. When I am giving presentations, I only want professional apps showing as people see my screens. And I only want the apps open I need for that particular presentation. I need to be able to do all of that quickly. I usually open apps I need before I start. I know I can open them in order, but it would useful to be able to keep changing order while in Presentation Mode so I am good to go when my screen comes back up. .

Basically, I want RIM to get BB10 launched. I wouldn't be surprised if they already have something like this planned, but if they don't I would rather save it for an update. Another way for RIM to keep grabbing consumer attention is to pound out some awesome updates.

That's an awesome idea. Also they should have a list view of apps instead of the thumbs view. From what I can see it can get annoying to scroll through 8 apps. The thumbs view is too big. Or maybe even make the thumbs view smaller.

Something that has been bothering me for a bit is these active frames and my wallpaper... I like my wallpapers. Will be able to place these active frames on a 'second screen' and keep the 1st screen clean with only my wallpaper? *shrug*

Being a preview its quite possible RIM has this plus a lot of other things done differently. RIM came up with the whole active frames concept so I'm sure they thought about a lot more. Plus they know the limitations or abilities of the system so they probably know what they can implement.

My biggest worry with what I've seen so far in the BB10 software is the lack of an App Switcher like in the previous BBOS. The Active Frames are cool, but to quickly flip between open apps is really easy with the App Switcher (and even easier with the PlayBook OS). I was really hoping that feauture of the PlayBook OS would stick around in BB10 (love using the bezel gestures to switch between apps and even being able to "peek" at an an without fully switching to it is something I do regularly).

Maybe using the "Hub" gesture, but moving from bottom bezel up, then to the RIGHT could bring up some sort of App Switcher (like an ALT-TAB function in Windows 7 where you can see smaller versions of the open programs).

Yea sorry, you move your thumb to the right to open the hub (which opens on the left)... tough to explain without tripping up a bit!

So my idea is to move your THUMB to the left (after coming up from the bottom - - same as HUB gesture) which would reveal all open apps (similar to how the App Switcher brings up open apps when holding the BB button). Then, if you complete the gesture, can tap on whatever app you have open, and it also gives you a quick view of the open app, so if you didn't need to fully open it, you could release the gesture to return the current app.

Hey Kevin - I'm curious to know since you are the all-mighty-know-it-all-blackberry man....who I would assume have alot of contacts within RIM.... do you ever forward some of these suggestions to RIM folk as ideas for their products? And if so, do you have some type of document stating you are not at liberty to publicly acknowledge the fact that it was your idea, which means, you probably won't reply to this post. Do me a favor.....Type 1 space for yes....2 spaces for no. :) BTW - Love the idea of being able to pin apps. I say you can pin 2 or 3 apps max, which would allow a new app to at least appear on the first screen. I think this is a great idea. Who knows, maybe this is one of the functions they pulled out of the dev alpha devices and will surprise us at launch! They did say that they cut out allot of what BB10 can do out of the dev alpha devices, so I'm very curious to see what else they have up their sleeve! Keep up the good work Kevin, your posts are very informative and entertaining, and you seem to always have a knack on discussing topics that interests me. thanks.

My guess is that the average user isn't multitasking between more than 8 apps at a time. Also, isn't the point of the unified mailbox to not have to pin the app to favorite. I just don't see how that save you time if its already running and you have a app shortcut anyway.

Simplicity is king and that just doesn't seem to address a need for a large enough market.

One minor point about bbm and twitter, aren't they going to tend to expect you to be accessing that via the hub (or uib as it was) for immediate attention rather than having the app sitting there all the time.

Also, as far as the 8 app limit, maybe that is simply a safe limit they have imposed on the dev alpha hardware with it being enough that it shows how they work without tending to put too much demand on a device that is actually intended for devs to be using to produce bb10 apps.

I think that would actually take away from the fluidity of the OS because depending on how many frames you "pin", your most recent app could end up in the third or fourth or fifth spot and so when you go to the active frames page, it would be more like having to search through the eight to find the one you want instead of just knowing "ok, I've sent a text and browsed since using app world so it will be the third frame". If they were to do this though they certainly shouldn't call it "pin" as that is straight out of windows phone. Hanging would be much better and more fitting since theyre called frames!

For me the usefulness of being able to pin something to the active screen would apply mainly to something like a weather app. The weather is something that i glance at frequently to get the current temperature, but do not open often. forcing it closed kind of defeats its purpose.

Something I noticed when Kevin was using the phone was that the OS seems to be a lot more responsive than before. For example, App World opened up right away even while there were 8 apps already open. Seems like what Thorestein was talking about: specs shouldn't be the end all of phones.

I like idea of pinning it, but I don't think I would use it. I am pretty sure that I don't use more than 8 apps at once (but others might). It would likely cause more battery drain so I would be closing anything I had open regardless.

Awesome idea Kevin. Having the ability to lock some of these frames so I can ensure that I always have my key/favorite apps running, and in a familiar place, would be a much better experience. I truly hope RIM has some iteration of this idea in the works. I can easily see me pinning six of my most used apps . Just feels cleaner to know where to find them all of the time in active frames.

In general the frame screens are a unique area where RIM could do some fun and useful customization options. For example, let a user setup certain frame "states/themes" to activate - ie - be able to change all of my pinned frames at a click by theme. So if I'm in a gaming mode, at a simple click or swipe I can change out my six pinned frames to game related ones. Or if I'm walking into some meetings I could swipe and suddenly my six key work apps load up. Or if I'm in a picture taking mood with one swipe I load up Instagram, scrapbook, pictures, camera, Facebook etc. Just a thought - but the more I can customize and personalize my phone (for efficiency and fun) the better. And another powerful differentiator from ios.

I like Kevin's idea to enable pinning "apps" in the active frame windows. Other suggestion I might add is to keep four apps in the active frame window and be able to flip through ("up and down") like the Roll-a-Deck.

How can you close apps, only by hitting the little x or by swiping up like on the playbook? How can you change apps, only by swiping up then selecting, or by swiping left/right like on the playbook? Also, does/any idea if the phone will be able to switch to landscape like the playbook or if only apps can?

These are some of my favourite things from the Playbook and am just wondering how they are implemented on the dev alpha software. Thanks!

I understand the idea that specs are not the end all be all when it comes to phones, just like beauty in a woman is not what one should base any relationship on... how well someone hits it off or how smooth the interface is isnt what gets someone to walk across a crowded room or go to look at a mobile device. what i mean is this, you have to deliver a complete package not only on the phone but on paper as well... BB has a loyal fan base, but they also want to bring in new users, this means they have to find a way to make the BB fans happy and be able to lure the apple fan boys and the people who have settled for droids back over the Dark side and once again be a BlackSheep...

more on the point, just because BB may not need to have the highest specs to run the way it does. If it has the same specs as the budget droids what will make people drop the high end money?

the first BB10 is going to be a full touch have something in the line of 1.5ghz dual core processer, gig or 2 of ram ect and this phone will be on a two year contract for 199.99 - 299.99 or somewhere close to that- I am looking very much forward to see what the BB10 phones can do, but i just got a Sony Ion for a $1.07 as an upgrade on a 2 year contract on one of the lines i have- its rocking about those same specs... this is what i mean when i say they have to be able to keep up with the jonses if they want to draw people into the big money phone market like the iphone and GS3 and the like...

im a smart person and i know that specs dont always mean better performance, but im not the one that BB is trying to make a point to convert...

This reminds me of the good old days where saved text messages were limited and you had to clean them out. In order to not delete any texts you wanted to keep, you needed to "LOCK" them. Then when you did a delete all, those locked messages would still be there.

- i would love to be able to control the size of each active frame, or choose one that will be dominating my screen while minimizing others and would love to have some more interactive behavior to them - for example, when minimized, a long touch to it will not open it but will enlarge it.
i would defiantly need the phone to be polished from stilling point of view - i love the new OS... BUT, i mind the looks as well, from 'trying to catch the crowd' point of view - this for sure will effect them to like it or to hate it.

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